Heading Home to Cape Coral

Tuesday, June 21st

We are staying in Fort Lauderdale while the weather settles down.  Going south through the Keys looks very questionable most of the week.  We can go north through the ICW but then we have to go through over 40 bridges in about 40 miles where we have to wait for each bridge to open and may have to put our outriggers down for some.  Putting the outriggers down is possible but not fun or easy to do every couple of miles.  Additionally, the bridge tenders may give us a hard time due to our height.  It looks like tomorrow we may be able go north on the outside up the coast to Port St. Lucie.  We can then go inland and across the "ditch" (ICW) to Cape Coral.  Another reason to wait are the numerous thunderstorms around.  We will access the situation again tomorrow morning.  Thus the rest of the day was spent just relaxing and preparing to our return.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - Day 57



Rainbow off West Palm Beach

The seas look good to head north up the coast of Florida to Port St. Lucie.  It will be at least two more days before we can go south through the Keys.  With that thought in mind, I went onto the Army Corp of Engineers to check the water height in Lake Okeechobee and Notice to Mariners for coming across the ICW.  The water height in the Lake was over 15 feet which was great and according to Notice to Mariners the work that was being done on the Ortona lock was complete June 17, 2016 (last week).  Great!  We are good to head home.  The only alert was to keep an eye out for scattered thunderstorms all day.  Thus at 6:30 AM we headed out of Port Everglades and up the eastern coast of Florida.  The traveling was great.  The seas were out of the east at about 1-2 feet and the sun was shining.  This was one of the better days that we have had to travel in the last couple of weeks.  As we arrived at Port St. Lucie we could see a thunderstorm right over the inlet.  So we waited offshore about an hour for the storm to pass and then proceed inland.  A quick stop at Sunset Marina in Stuart for fuel and then on  our way once again.  We had thought that we might stay at Sunset Marina for the night, but by arriving there at 11:30AM it was a little early to stop TV show.  Bass boats are much smaller than the Marlin Striker so what are the chances they would have a place for a bigger boat?  I called and they actually said they would take us.  When we pulled into the marina, the bridge of the Marlin Striker was taller than the building and we had to back into the marina because the canal was not large enough for us to turn around once we got in there.  That was interesting.  Once in all was good, there was a small restaurant, store, and everything we needed.  All very inexpensive and comfortable.  We were advised to keep Stew close due to the alligators.  No problem. 

Famous Bass Fishing Resort, Tournaments, and TV Shows

The Quiet of Roland Martin Marina

Thursday, June 23, 2016 - Day 58

Traveling the "ditch" ICW toward Moore Haven

We could not get through the Moore Haven lock until 7:00 AM which means that we would have to wait until 11:30 AM to get through the Ortona lock so we slept in, visited the store which opened at 6 AM and then at about 8:30 AM headed toward the Moore Haven lock.  It was a great ride, the sun was out, no wind and the canal depth was about 20 feet.  Since there were no other boats in sight and no speed restrictions we cruised through wilderness at about 27-30 knots slowing only to take a look at some alligators.  We arrived at the Ortona lock with about an hour to spare so we tied off to the piles along with several other boats all waiting for the next lock opening.  

After passing through the scheduled lock of Ortona we put the hammer down and headed for the final lock, Franklin.  Then just a few minutes and a major rain and thunderstorm about one (1) mile from home.  It was down the Caloosahatchee to Tarpon Point Marina, Cape Coral.  Our new home port marina. 



Green Slim Water in ICW

The BROWN Water of the Caloosahatchee River

Well we stayed on the boat one more night.  After our arrival at Tarpon Point Marina we immediately ventured up to Pinchers for a relaxing dinner.  After dinner we were both exhausted and the thought of opening the house and starting to unload was more than we wanted to do so we thought that we would enjoy at little TV before bedtime.  It must be the relaxation at the end of the trip, but before we knew it neither of us saw much TV and we woke up at about midnight in the salon with the television still going. 
 
Friday, June 24, 2016 - Day 59

After a good nights sleep it was time to clean the boat and unload all of the extra supplies and fishing gear. 

Total Trip Time:  59 Days
Total Distance:  1267.8 NM
Total Travel Time:   162 Hours

The beauty of the Bahamas is gone but is nice to be home among familiar surroundings.  This was another great trip of which we thoroughly enjoyed and are grateful for being able to do. 

Thank you for all of your support during our nine (9) week adventure.